Engineering a Biological Scaffold onto the Omentum for a DRI BioHub Platform
Camillo Ricordi, M.D., Director of the Diabetes Research Institute
DRI Director Camillo Ricordi, M.D., holds the Ricordi Chamber
Alice Tomei, Ph.D., Director of the DRI's Immunoengineering Lab
Clinical trial meeting among DRI's multidisciplinary research team
Inside the DRI's cGMP human cell processing facility
Peter Buchwald, Ph.D., Director of Drug Discovery
Armando Mendez, Ph.D., Director of the Biomarker and Immunoassay Lab
Lisa Rafkin-Mervis and Della Matheson are part of the DRI's TrialNet team
Islet Isolation and Transplantation Graphic (liver)
Isolated human pancreatic islet cells in petri dish
Rodolfo Alejandro, M.D., and David Baidal, M.D., clinical islet transplant
Allison Bayer, Ph.D., and Chris Fraker, Ph.D.
Alberto Pugliese, M.D., Deputy Director for Immune Tolerance
Alberto Pugliese, M.D., and Thomas Malek, Ph.D.
Diabetes Research Institute Clinical Cell Transplant Team
Dora Berman-Weinberg, Ph.D., and Norma S. Kenyon Ph.D.
Ronald B. Goldberg, M.D., with the Diabetes Prevention Program team
Diabetes Research Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Jay Skyler, M.D., Deputy Dir., Clinical Research and Academic Programs
Peter Buchwald, Ph.D., with members of Biorep Technologies
Observing transplanted islets through the "Living Window" eye model
Chemists enhance DRI's conformal coatings with nanotechnologies
Juan Dominguez-Bendala, Ph.D., and Ricardo Pastori, Ph.D., Cell Supply
Diego Correa, M.D., Ph.D., is an expert in mesenchymal stem cells
Ernesto Bernal-Mizrachi, M.D., Deputy Director for Beta Cell Biology
Luis Roque and Khemraj Hirani, Ph.D., of DRI's Regulatory Affairs Team
Video
What is it like to live with type 1 diabetes? Why is it important to cure this disease? No one can say it better than patients, parents and spouses who deal with the daily challenges of type 1 diabetes and dream of a cure. And they all share one common belief -- the DRI is the best hope for getting us there.
DRI Director Dr. Camillo Ricordi invented the "Ricordi Chamber," an automated method to isolate islet cells from the pancreas. In this animated video, you can see how the isolation process works, from harvesting the donor pancreas to obtaining the insulin-producing cells from the organ and infusing them into the liver, the traditional site of implantation.
The BioHub strategy can best be grouped into three avenues of research that are simultaneously being pursued by the DRI: engineering a mini endocrine pancreas within the body, protecting the islets from immune system attack, and identifying an unlimited source of insulin-producing cells to treat the millions living with diabetes.
A #T1DSuperhero might not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but those with type 1 diabetes take heroic actions every single day to conquer the challenges of living with this disease. The Diabetes Research Institute Foundation pays tribute to all T1D superheroes, with this public service announcement that likens them -- and the DRI scientists who are working to find a cure -- to real superheroes.
Ron Darling, named one of the 50 Greatest Mets of all time by Newsday (July 2012), is an Emmy-winning sports analyst and a member of the DRI Foundation's National Board of Directors. He will stop at nothing until a cure is found for his eldest son, Jordan, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 11.